By Ivan Pereira
Home prices in Queens rose slightly over the last 12 months, but the number of home sales dropped drastically during that same time period, according to a new report.
The Prudential Douglas Elliman quarterly survey for Queens found that both the average and median sales prices went up 2.1 percent from the second calendar quarter in 2010 to the April-June period this year.
The average sales price for homes was $390,589 for this year compared to $382,518 during the same period last year, and median sales prices were $342,000 during the second quarter of 2011 compared to $335,000 during the second quarter of 2010, according to the report.
“The direction of the market is predicated on the pace of improvement in macroeconomic issues, such as access to credit, foreclosures and unemployment,” the report said.
Despite the higher sales numbers, the number of Queens properties being purchased dropped by 40.6 percent during the time period, according to Douglas Elliman, the city’s largest residential brokerage firm. There were 2,361 sales in the borough during the second quarter of 2011 compared to 3,972 during the same period last year, the report said.
Central Queens showed the largest growth in sales prices but also the largest decrease in the number of home sales.
The average sales price for that area went up from $351,627 during the second quarter of 2010 to $381,158 during the same period this year, an increase of 8.4 percent, and the median sales price climbed 11.2 percent from $283,210 last year to $315,000 during the same period in 2011.
Sales for Central Queens decreased 48.7 percent from 920 during the second quarter of 2010 to 472 during the same period this year.
Northwest Queens had the largest drop in average prices during the past 12 months, down from $501,234 in 2010 to $477,450 this year. The report indicated that median sales prices in the area also took a dip from $455,692 during the second quarter of last year to $423,000 during the same period this year, a decrease of 7.2 percent.
The number of properties sold in that area went down 13.7 percent over the last 12 months from 262 to 226, according to the report.
South Queens, which has led the state in the number of foreclosures over the last couple of years, saw slight changes to home prices, the report said. The average sales price decreased from $329,181 from the second quarter of last year to $323,645 during the same period this year.
Sales went down in that area 43.4 percent from 1,001 properties in 2010 to 567 in 2011, according to Douglas Elliman.
The northeast Queens area saw a decrease in both sales prices and properties sold during the 12-month period.
The average sales price for the neighborhood went down 0.9 percent from $427,487 during the second quarter of 2010 to $423,644 during the same period this year and the median sales price went from $368,534 in 2010 to $350,000 this year, a 5 percent drop.
Sales fell 41.8 percent from 1,046 during the second quarter of last year to 609 during the same period in 2011, the report said.
Reach reporter Ivan Pereira by e-mail at ipereira@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4546.
